PML-F rejects the census : Staff needs police in some areas: Opposition

Political party workers making house lists at their offices and then handing them over to the census staff: Opposition

KARACHI:

Sindh Assembly’s Leader of the Opposition Jam Madad Ali said on Friday that major irregularities have been found in the census and therefore the result will not be accepted.

“We demand the census should be initiated under army supervision,” he said at a press conference on Friday. The Pakistan Muslim League-Functional MPA called for an end to political interference and said that the deadline for house listing should be extended.

Jam Madad, accompanied by party members Nusrat Seher Abbasi and Marvi Rashdi, said there was a limited number of enumerators who are untrained. “We suspect that there are meagre chances of transparency as many settlements are being excluded from the process,” he said, adding that not only the PML-F, but the joint opposition has reservations over the census.

He said the role of political parties is to help the census staff and mobilise communities. But political party workers are making house lists at their offices and then handing them over to the census staff, Jam Madad alleged. The opposition leader said there were many areas in the province where the census staff cannot go without police protection. “We want to know what has been done in Hyderabad, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur and Jacobabad where tribal clashes are on the rise and there is no writ of the government.”

He said that PML-F Sindh president Sadaruddin Shah Rashdi will soon hold a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari and submit the resignations of the party’s ministers and advisers. “We cannot work with the government, but will continue our unconditional support,” he said.

Sunni Tehreek and PPP also concerned

The Sunni Tehreek and Pakistan Peoples Party leaders have also expressed reservations about the ongoing census in Sindh. They said that the federal government must play its role in ensuring a transparent and thorough census. On Friday, a three-member PPP delegation visited the Sunni Tehreek head office. After the meeting, members from both the parties held a press conference.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th,  2011.